Technology invades the modern world

Chapter 336 Crimson Sweeps the Globe
Carl Schmidt played black, while the Chinese engineers activated crimson; the mainframe hummed, and the terminal lights flashed.

His opening was the standard Sicilian Defense, a move often made by novices who have only read game records but lack practical experience.

Crimson couldn't tell whether he was a novice or a veteran; it simply made its own mechanical response, though this response was remarkably swift.

The game lasted five minutes before Carl was defeated. He showed no sign of frustration; instead, he pondered the underlying technique, as Crimson's reaction speed was even faster than that of Deep Blue, whom he had seen in the same place two years prior.

Is crimson greater than crimson?

"Is China's chess AI program even faster than America's Deep Blue?" Carl wondered.

This was enough to shock Carl, the computer expert. Only then did he truly begin to ponder the words of the Chinese official: Crimson One was no worse than the Model 85, and it was actually true.

He also noticed something else: this time, China's Crimson only used eight large-scale machines in series.
After the outcome was decided, enthusiastic applause erupted from the audience.

The fact that the Socialism camp also has mainframe computers and artificial intelligence programs is very encouraging for the predominantly Eastern European audience.

Of course, inspiring people is one thing, but tangible benefits are another.

It's important to know that IBM's advanced computers are not allowed to be exported, and China is the only country in the entire Socialism camp that can provide large computers of this level.

Moreover, China's mainframe computers have performance advantages.

This is a one-of-a-kind existence.

They can make a fortune just by acting as middlemen in entrepot trade.

Moreover, judging from the products sold by Panda Electronics in the past, Huaguo has always followed the strategy of low profit and high volume. IBM's Model 85 sells for five million US dollars, while Huaguo's Crimson One sells for a maximum of two million US dollars. They can easily resell it for four or five million.

This is real, tangible benefit.

The Model 85 is practically unavailable in the entire socialist camp, while China's Crimson One can maintain a stable supply. If they were unscrupulous, they could sell it for not only four or five million US dollars, but even more.

Those who come here are all businessmen, and they quickly thought of this.

The crowd surged forward, creating chaos. No one cared about Li Mingde's question about whether anyone else wanted to go up and play chess; everyone wanted to chat with this Chinese official.

“Mr. Li, it’s me. We talked here last year. Can we speak with you privately?”

"I am the Vice President of West German Krupp, and I would like to speak with you!"

Similar sounds kept coming, and business cards were being stuffed into the hands of Chinese staff as if they were free.

The organizers of the trade fair have repeatedly sent additional staff to maintain order.

"Please calm down, everyone. Our staff will collect your business cards and contact you one by one later. Please allow us to complete the established procedures. In the afternoon, you can line up to enter the venue to visit our Crimson One computer and the spreadsheet program we developed."

After Li Mingde finished speaking, order was gradually restored at the scene.

Five games were played in the morning. Crimson won four of them. The only game they lost was the last one, which was won only after someone invited a professional chess player from Leipzig who had won the national championship.

During the midday break that day, all the businessmen who came to Leipzig to participate in the trade fair were talking about one thing: Crimson No. 1 from China.

“It’s incredible. Before today, I never would have imagined that the world’s second truly meaningful chess AI would be born in China,” Friedrich said.

The three Schmidts gathered together. Friedrich was in charge of international affairs and was very familiar with the technological level of various countries. As early as the 1950s, when China sent an international delegation to visit East German technology companies, he also received them.

At the time, the representatives from China were no different from country bumpkins in his eyes. They saw everything as if it were a treasure, wanting to buy this and that, but when they asked about the price, the light in their eyes dimmed instantly, and they looked poor.

But when it comes to how to build the country in the future, those country bumpkins in his mind can talk a lot of nonsense, wanting this and that, from mining and smelting to machinery manufacturing, from defense industry to chemical industry, they want to make everything you can think of themselves.

What Friedrich didn't expect at the time was that the other party actually knew about semiconductors, because they had mentioned East Germany's semiconductor industry, and then the other party said that they also had plans to develop semiconductors.

At that time, Friedrich was just a low-level official, and he looked down on it. In his view, the idea was nice, but the reality was cruel, and the cruel reality would teach these bumpkins the best lesson.

He didn't need to say anything more.

He just didn't expect that what happened later would exceed his expectations. From the war on the Korean Peninsula to the atomic bomb, rockets, and ballistic missiles, China's progress was like it had been cheated.

Those things are too far away; you can only see them on TV and in newspapers. They don't really concern him. At most, he might mention them a couple of times when chatting with other Chinese immigrants.

The appearance of the Panda Radio once again shattered his perception. He was amazed that the Chinese could produce such sophisticated and well-designed electronic products. Later, he gradually had to admit that Chinese consumer electronics products, in terms of both quality and stability, were absolutely number one in the entire Eastern camp.

It can even rival America's goods.

With tangible items like radios and portable calculators, Friedrich couldn't help but admire the speed of China's progress; it was simply too fast.

In the blink of an eye, more than a decade has passed, and in many aspects they have caught up with, and even surpassed, East Germany.

The Chinese representatives who come to the Leipzig Trade Fair every year can see the changes in them; the progress of the country is reflected in them.

But this time, it's a completely different concept. China has actually built a large computer and is even saying "far ahead" to America's Blue Giant.

Given his understanding of the cautious attitude of the Chinese people, they couldn't possibly be unaware of the uproar that saying "far ahead" would cause internationally. Originally, you were just benchmarking, but now, Crimson No. 1 will be scrutinized by all media outlets in the liberal camp with exceptionally strict eyes.

Any problem, however small, will be ridiculed in turn, and the media, led by Pravda, may not actually speak up for you. The relationship between China and Soviet Russia was not very good, especially now that Lyndon Johnson is trying to break the ice.

Therefore, Friedrich guessed that the Chinese side must have been very confident to dare to say that they were far ahead, which made him envious.

If East Germany had possessed Crimson One, wouldn't the GDP and economic dominance gained from the OGAS plan have all belonged to East Germany?
OGAS was also piloted for a period of time, and the four Eastern European countries realized that this thing was better than the original command-based economic management model. Although it is still command management, the precision is much higher, and the difficulty for those below to falsify data is also greatly increased.

Now rumors are circulating from Moscow that, under Kosygin's leadership, OGAS will be fully rolled out, and Moscow will allocate 200 billion rubles to advance the project, taking the opportunity to quell Czechoslovakia's resentment.

Whether it's true or not, it's true that Friedrich hoped to secure greater autonomy and more resources for East Germany.

Back in Leipzig, Friedrich looked deep in thought, while Karl nodded seriously: "China's progress is too fast. When the Panda portable calculator appeared, we realized that China had made a breakthrough in the semiconductor field."

But we didn't expect that only three years later, China would bring out a brand new mainframe computer, which is much more difficult than a portable calculator.

The combined progress of the four Eastern European countries and Moscow is still lagging behind that of China.

I'm wondering, are we just too useless, or are the Chinese just too twisted?

Herman had the best mindset among them because he was in the trade. It was unprecedented good news that countries in the same camp had such a good product as Crimson One.

"This is a good thing. What we need to determine is production capacity. We need to ensure that China's production capacity is sufficient. We can make a lot of money from this."

"Even a casual entrepot trade can generate tens or even hundreds of millions of dollars in profit. We can buy whatever price the Chinese are willing to pay, and then resell it to other countries for a profit of at least 30%. That's the influence of German manufacturing."

Upon hearing this, Friedrich and Karl immediately understood.

It's very simple: the vast majority of countries in the world have an impression of China that is stuck decades in the past.

Chinese mainframe computers? Many countries would instinctively reject them, preferring to buy junk rather than Chinese computers, but East Germany was different.

Having a wealthy family background makes all the difference. China's Crimson No. 1 only needs to be labeled as made in East Germany, and many countries will recognize its German flavor.

Hermann continued, "France and England can take American goods, put on a label, and sell them to us at high prices. Why can't we take Chinese goods, put on a label, and sell them to Asian, African, and Latin American countries?"

Many businessmen at the scene thought the same way.

Especially in Western European countries, the liberal camp countries are much wealthier. These countries can afford not only state-owned enterprises, governments, and research institutions, but also many large private enterprises.

Countries like England and France even dreamed of using Chinese computers to launch a counterattack on America's homeland and go head-to-head with IBM; it was the Marshall Plan that started to give them this illusion.

The afternoon, when the spreadsheet presentation took place, was even more frantic.

There were eight machines in total, and eight viewing spots. The Huaguo booth was surrounded, and visitors entered one by one.

(VisiCalc, launched in October 1979, was also the world's first spreadsheet.)
Now, this name belongs to the Chinese word spreadsheet, a direct translation of electronic spreadsheet.

Karl Helmers is the editor of the science and technology section of the Neues Deutsche Zeitung. Unlike many newspapers in West Germany, there were relatively few newspapers in East Germany, and they were all under the unified control of East Berlin.

There are no dedicated science and technology newspapers; they only have separate sections in some large newspapers, such as the Neue Deutsche Zeitung.

The air was filled with the hum of machines and the excited whispers of the people queuing around.

Long queues had already formed at the scene, with the line length comparable to that of the China Pavilion at the 2010 Shanghai World Expo.

Helmes and his colleague Robert Tinker stood in the middle of the line, watching the expressions of the visitors inside the booth as they viewed the exhibits—a way to kill time.

Watching everyone go in and intently wait for the introduction, and then try it out themselves, Helmes's expression changed from curiosity to seriousness. If it weren't for the fact that each person could only stay inside for ten minutes, and that those who came together could visit one piece of equipment together, Helmes seriously doubted whether he would even have his turn today.

It wasn't until 8 p.m. that it was Helmes' turn.

What appears on the screen is a grid-like interface, with the numbers obediently placed in their corresponding positions within the table.

After the Chinese engineers finished their explanation, they were allowed to operate the equipment themselves.

Helmes and Robert sat side by side. Helmes spoke first to Robert, saying, "This thing looks like an electronic ledger. It can even update formulas in real time!"

Imagine no longer having to manually recalculate the entire table.

Robert exclaimed in shock, "Carl, you're right, this isn't a simple calculator; it uses rows and columns to simulate the blackboard needed for accounting."

Simply press Enter, and bang! All the dependent cells refresh instantly.

This software is incredible, including its graphical user interface, which allows ordinary people to use it for calculations right away.

No wonder China made portable calculators!

I suspect it will significantly simplify financial calculations, but I'm not sure of the exact extent.

When they finished their work and only two minutes remained, the Chinese engineer standing to the side came over again:

"Gentlemen, our system also includes a temporary storage function. This means that if you are using the spreadsheet and suddenly lose power or shut down due to machine malfunction, your previous operations will be saved after restarting."

When you turn the machine back on, it will save the data you just entered, so you don't need to repeat the process.

This ensures the machine's stability from another perspective.

After leaving the Crimson China booth, the two fell into a long silence. Helmes glanced at the black and red poster floating above, which read, "Crimson, subverting your perception!"

If you hadn't visited the Crimson One site in person, you wouldn't understand at all what product this poster was trying to sell.

Helmers thought to himself: China is so innovative even in advertising. We are not only behind West Germany in computer technology, but now we are even far behind China. No, it's not just us, other countries are also behind China in this field.

Robert's thoughts were simpler: "Carl, I think I've already seen the future!"

Helmes asked, "What future?"

Robert said, "Actually, spreadsheets in China are not very practical because the main buyers of mainframe computers are enterprises. What enterprises need is their computing function. Spreadsheets are a bit too limited for calculation."

But what if it could be made smaller?

Helmers still didn't understand: "Be a smaller one?"

Robert nodded emphatically: "That's right, make it as small as China used to make calculators portable. What would it be like if they could fit spreadsheets into small desktop computers?"
I believe that every data-related job requires purchasing small computers and spreadsheet software from China. What a huge market that is!
Spreadsheets are arguably a killer app.

But on a mainframe computer, it's at best an added bonus.

Of course, it's useful, but not the most important thing.

Robert has a keen sense of smell; as the editor of the technology section, he immediately grasped the key point.

The spreadsheet itself was designed to generate buzz and showcase China's software development capabilities.

China's idea is to sell hardware as well as software, making the most of both.

What happened here was like a storm that quickly swept from Leipzig to East and West Germany, then to Europe, and finally engulfed the whole world.

Newspapers in every corner of the world are reporting that China has launched a chess program called Crimson, which is said to be able to rival Deep Blue and is considered to be far ahead of Deep Blue.

China said that Crimson One was far ahead, but when the media spread it, it became that Crimson One was far ahead of Crimson Blue.

This also reminded people who saw the news of the contest between the two camps.

"Comrade Li, what is your view on the agreement to deepen our cooperation?" Gerhard Bell asked.

　I double-checked that the IBM System 360 series from 1968 was a 32-bit mainframe computer.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)